


The Dare

by siriuslychessi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:38:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24590164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siriuslychessi/pseuds/siriuslychessi
Summary: James dances terrible at a Gryffindor party, Lily teases him endlessly and Sirius dares her to teach him how to dance.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 12
Kudos: 21





	1. The Party

**Prompt:** Lily teaches James to dance.

* * *

It started with a party, didn’t all great things start like that? With a little fun and a wild imagination? At least James thought so, because all his great ideas happened in the middle of the night, accompanied with his friends, and with his mind busy with simple things. However this wasn’t one of James’ great ideas. 

It was just dumb luck.

There was a party at the Gryffindor Tower; some loud, not totally legal, fun and over the top, party that had become packed with people that sneaked through Filch’s ironclad curfew and a few young Gryffindors that ought to be in bed, and James and his friends couldn’t be more at ease.

The four friends were talking about their next trip to Hogsmeade when music changed, it was some upbeat music and everyone in the room that wasn’t attached to someone’s lips was on the impromptu dance floor. Lyrics being thrown left to right but clueless teens that only had a night off worries and test and to be themselves. 

A flash of red hair caught the eye of one of the Marauders.

Sirius knew Lily was, almost, too easy to spot. She wasn’t exactly the only redhead in Gryffindor but she had a way of catching anyone’s eye. She was beautiful; not in the way James always talked about, she was objectively attractive; and she was funny. Snarky comments he overheard when she wasn’t looking at them, thinking that the four friends were nothing but idiots, always made him snort. And she was utterly crushing on his best mate. 

People always thought Sirius was daft, and he might be, he was bold, and he cared little about conventions since all he wanted was to throw rules out of the window and just be free, but when it came to James he saw much more than people thought. James was Sirius’ everything, especially after leaving home. James was there, he was the one that brought Sirius to half a decent human being.

So in return Sirius tried to protect his best mate, his brother, at all cost. He always did, but after he owed everything he was to James he got even more protective. He looked out for people that might want to brawl with James as well as other possible threats; and Lily Evans seemed the biggest one. He watched her closely, more to see if this girl was actually giving James the time of the day or not, and Black started noticing things.

Lily always tried to play it cool when she was around James, like she was still mad about some stupid prank they played sometime to a second year when they were in third, like she was still friends with Snape and shared the git’s point of view. However as soon as she thought no one was looking she would steal glances towards James’ direction; brushing any time she almost got caught.

The Quidditch stands never missed her when Gryffindor was playing, and she always screamed the loudest when James scored a point. And finally, but not less important, she would absolutely deny she fancied James on any level, which sounded strained and not true at all.

That’s how Sirius  _ knew _ that Lily was crushing so hard on James that it was a mystery how Potter couldn’t see it himself. Maybe he was blind in more ways than the obvious thick glasses.

His mind quickly came up with a plan, he smirked to himself and then smiled widely to his friends. “I feel a dare coming!” he shouted before laughing. 

“It can’t be worse than trying to steal Snivellius’ pants.” Peter shrugged, taking a drink from his glass. 

Sirius laughed and wrapped an arm around Peter, “I don’t feel like seeing the git’s face today, but I feel we need to make boring Prongs here dance.” he pointed, earning a “That’s hardly a dare, Padfoot” from Remus. 

“Oh but dear Moony, the dare is that his proper trained ass needs to go there, make utter ridicule of himself for all the Common Room to see.” Sirius smiled as Peter looked from Sirius to the dance floor, it didn’t seem like a proper dare, usually someone was dangling from the chandeliers or naked this was too simple. However as he looked at the people dancing he understood Sirius’ machinations. 

“Of course!” he replied with a smile matching Sirius’. 

Which made James laugh. “What’s up with you two?” He asked, drinking and looked at Remus who shrugged. He really had no clue what his friend was up to but last time they ended up on the tables singing Bohemian Rhapsody was one for the ages, so he complied.

Potter didn’t bother to look back as he moved backwards to the dance floor, making weird movements with his arms, hunching in a weird way and laughing all the way, “I accept your dare, Black, but you have to be my dance partner!” 

Sirius laughed and untangled himself from Peter, “Yes, deer!” he screamed starting a weirdly timed dance off that made people stop, stare and laugh as they moved through the room. Sirius managed to be graceful, even in the weirdness of the movements. He looked more like a professional dancer doing a modern piece than a drunk fucker trying to play his mate.

James was so transfixed on the stupid movements, waiting to make Sirius mess up and trip from laugher, that he didn’t notice the green eyes tracing his every movement. 

“I don’t know how you manage our Quidditch team with that horrible rhythm, Potter. It looks like you’d fall off a broom if you ever try to fly and throw a ball at the same time.” someone spoke, more teasing than malice in their voice. James knew the voice, he wasn’t sure why she was teasing him, usually they bicker more than get along.

“Evans,” he smiled politely, turning to her and making more weird movements to see if that made her laugh, “You mean this? Don’t you like it?” he joked as well.

Lily chuckled softly, “Please, think of the kids. They are young and impressionable.” she joked again, or maybe she was flirting? Neither of them knew the answer to that question.

“Nah, the wee lads are going to be fine.” He said through his thickest Scottish accent, that always came back after a couple of drinks, “And I can’t leave me lovely dance partner alone.” James motioned to Sirius who was doing some sort of complicated spin giving James a blowing kiss as he turned back to his best mate.

“You should ask him to teach you some moves.” Lily joked, motioning to Sirius once more as he made another graceful movement.

“Plonker.” he muttered under his breath as he ran a hand through his hair, messing it up. “Maybe I will, if he ever stops spinning.” he added loud enough so Sirius stopped and blinked at the couple. 

“Me? Teaching you how to dance? Never.” He added seriously, fixing his longish hair, “You are too stiff for me, you need someone with more patience.” He said sincerely, moving to rest his arm on James’ shoulder as his best mate moved to fix his glasses. “What about you, Evans?” Sirius offered instead.

“What?!” both of them said at the same time, James couldn’t believe what came out of Sirius’ lips, and Lily wouldn’t ever think Sirius would talk to her in that tone, almost friendly and familiar. They barely spoke out of social gatherings.

“He needs to learn how to dance, you are a good dancer, as far as we know. I’m far too busy for the git and I would kill him in the hour if I started teaching him. I love him too much to kill him. You tutor younger students, you are  _ actually _ patient. So, what do you say, Evans? Would you help a bloke out?” Sirius finished with a smile.

James was staring at Sirius like he grew two heads, he was mental, why on earth he was talking about dancing lessons? This was a silly dare, right? James didn’t need dancing lessons, and he certainly didn’t need Lily mad at him again. They were finally friends, he didn’t want to go back to always bicker and name calling.

A faint blush tinted Lily’s cheek as Sirius talked to her, she wasn’t sure if that was a proper question or if he was sort of teasing her, but she wanted to know, she wanted to spend enough time with James to see if what she thought was right. If he wasn’t such an idiot anymore and if they could talk to each other without being tainted by other’s opinions of themselves. 

“Sure, I’ll do it, but you owe me some of Honeydukes finest chocolate.” she replied to Sirius with a smirk, “After all I’m doing you this big favour and I’m not a cheap tutor.” she smiled half joking surprising Sirius and James with the reply.

“Of course!” Sirius laughed, “I’ll set the payment for the lesson!”


	2. The Lesson

Sound, it was the evilest thing in the world, followed directly by light. How could those two simple things cause so much pain?

“Rise and shine, Prongs!”

No, the evilest thing in the world was Padfoot. 

“ _Tha mi a ’dol gad mharbhadh_ …” James mumbled into his pillow, shielding from the light.

“You know I can’t never understand when you speak Scottish.” Sirius commented, James’ sheets from him. 

“ _Fuck!”_ James exclaimed to the cold room.

“Language, Prongs.” a teasing Remus replied with a smile that James couldn’t see because he was too busy glaring at Sirius. 

Sirius wore a prideful look on his face, almost gleaming. Nothing good ever came from Sirius’ pride, it was always something James would regret instantly. And then he remembered; the dare.

It was second nature to grab his pillow and chuck it at Sirius. At home Sirius was always teasing and bugging, and bloody frankly, after the thing he pulled yesterday the wanker deserved it. Making James look like a fool in front of Lily, and then all the other things he dared James to do. Sirius deserved punishment for that, and for the massive headache that James was carrying around that morning.

“Shouldn’t Prongs get dressed? He’s going to be late.” James heard Peter add from his bed.

“Late?” The question was asked as his body stopped from hitting Sirius to look at Peter, who was eating from a bag of nuts as he looked at the other two Gryffindors fight. “Late for what?”

They didn’t have lessons today, it was Saturday, where would he be late?

“Dance lessons.” Peter quipped, eating another nut from the bag.

“With Lily.” Remus continued simply, like that was information privy to all.

James looked at Remus, Remus who liked to make witty comments and knew how to scare Peeves away. Remus who, all in all, was mocking him but was the only one giving him a fair warning of the past events and events to come.

“With Lily? Evans?”

“How many Lilys do you know, Prongs?” Sirius asked mockingly, looking at James with a knowing smirk. The kind of smirk James was afraid of.

 _Lily_ … that was a weird name to associate with James, more so to dance lessons. Usually it involved hexes and scoffing, but this? This was certainly different.

“Wormtail, how much did you give him to drink last night?” Sirius asked sitting on James’ bed.

“Enough for him to be clumsy by a hangover, so Evans believes he needs dance lessons.” Peter replied, shrugging.

“He should remember the lesson plans, shouldn’t he?” Remus asked, looking at Peter, trying to assess the situation.

“That was real?” The bespectacled boy asked sitting on his bed, only to yelp when he found Sirius underneath him. “That wasn’t my drunken arse making things up?” he asked alarmed, starting to pace around the room.

“It wasn’t, but you’ll be late if you don’t start getting ready.” Remus reminded him, leaving in the bed post in front of James’ bed, finding it more than amusing that James was in such a state just from a dance lesson. 

James stopped in his tracks and looked at Remus, the only one sane of his friends, the only one that seemed to actually want to help him in his situation. “U don’t remember any details after that, how am I going to remember the pale and time we agreed on?”

“You have friends that can remember. Now, go shower so we can take you there.”

**✮**

She was drunk. She could blame it on that, right? She was pissed drunk and had agreed to do something utterly stupid. Wasn’t it? This was going to end terribly wrong, she could feel it in her bones. 

Yes, she had offered to teach Potter, but it was all with the teasing of Sirius, wasn’t it? Nothing good ever came when you tease with the lot of them. Potter wouldn’t show up, would he? He was just pranking her, all of them were. This couldn’t be real.

“He’s going to show up.” Marry commented, swinging her dangling legs from the desk she was currently sitting on, exposing exactly the inner thoughts that Lily had about the situation “He’s not stupid, he’ll come.”

“He was pissed drunk. I don’t think he can even remember his name, much less the lessons.” Lily replied, sitting by her friend. She had requested Mary to join her since Lily wasn’t sure this was safe just yet. She needed the moral support, someone to tell her she wasn’t crazy, that this was not a stupid way to act on her crush.

“You offered James dance lessons, he could be amnesic and the only thing he would remember is this. Don’t worry about it. He’ll be here.” Mary added like it was the most obvious thing anyone could think of. But it wasn’t, not to Lily at least.

Lily bit her bottom lip, no sure if that’s exactly the answer she was looking for. “James hasn’t talked to me as more than a classmate in a while.” The Prefect didn’t think the Quidditch Captain fancied her anymore and she wasn’t sure how to feel about it just yet. Did she want James to ask her out again? Was this new phase in James just in her imagination, was he still the same idiot he was a couple of years before? Did she really think he was so idiotic most of the time? She remembered a couple of times when she was actually rooting for James and his friends to hex the trousers out of some bigoted students, but everything lately seemed so fucking confusing. 

“Then why did you offer to teach him to dance?” Mary asked her friend, wanting to understand what was really going through Lily’s mind.

Lily was about to reply to her friend when a loud group of boys entered the classroom. They all laughed and were pushing each other, overlapping comments and remarks as they made their way to the girls.

“Why are you all here?” Mary was the first to ask the question both girls wanted to know the answer.

“We could ask the same here.” Remus replied, raising an eyebrow at her.

“I’m here for moral support. For all I know, Potter is physically impaired from dancing. I need to keep an eye on Lily. Stopping her from jumping out of the window.” she shrugged.

“We came to see if Evans is as good a dancing instructor as she claims. I don't need him dancing worse than he is.” Sirius replied sitting on a chair, leaning on the back legs of it in a balancing act, looking at the girls like it was settled.

“Let’s get this over with.” Lily said with a sigh, moving towards the record player, choosing something to play. “We should start with something easy.” she said more to James, who was really quiet all of the sudden, than the rest of the room. 

A slow son started playing. It wasn’t exactly romantic but it was easy to sway to. She wanted to know if he had some sort of rhythm, or the spastic movements were permanent and not an attempt to follow Sirius’ silliness. 

“I love this song!” Lily heard Sirius exclaim, putting the front legs of the chair back on the floor and staring at Remus, “Come one, darling, dance with me.”

Remus looked at Sirius, shaking his head lightly, “I don’t dance.” He replied simply, leaning heavily on the chair. The full moon was coming close and had him in a rotten mood. He didn’t need to be manhandled by Sirius and his ridiculous need to play a game on James.

“Come on, love, Pete already asked Mary to dance, I can’t be the only one not dancing.” Sirius added with a pout, trying to get something out of Remus more than a glare or a sigh, but he wasn’t giving in. “Fine, Pete, I want the next dance.” He declared to the room as he watched his friends dance elegantly. 

Lily wasn’t sure what to expect of this lesson, she wanted some time to process her feelings, see if her attraction to James was purely hormonal, if there was something else there, or if she had missed her chance. But all these distractions were making it hard to focus on the main reason she wanted to have this excuse to be alone with James. Maybe it wasn’t so bad, Mary and Marlene were always around her, and Sirius and the boys were always around James, if she wanted to know how this would work she couldn’t do it in a perfect bubble.

“Does he always have to be the centre of attention, or is it just my impression?” She added with a chuckle, knowing Sirius wasn’t being mean or annoying on purpose, he just wanted to have a good time on a Saturday afternoon.

James looked at her. It wasn’t the look Lily was used to, he was puzzled by something. Usually Lily’s comments weren’t meant as a joke, she used harsher tones when she talked to, or about, the marauders, but this was an authentic joke and James’ hangover brain was having a hard time processing it. 

“He doesn’t like quiet places, doesn’t even shut up when he sleeps.” James joked back, a little slower than usual, but he gave her a small smile to let her know it was okay to tease.

“That explains why the librarian hates him.” She chuckled, moving in front of James looking up at him, “So, we should get started, I need to earn my chocolates.” she chuckled once more, grabbing James’ wrist gently. 

James’ hangover was playing tricks with his mind, or that was James’ thought at first. Lily was teasing, and she was mocking his friends, but he was mad at them at the moment so they deserved it. And now she was taking his hand to place it on her hip. In all fairness it was his wrist, but the morronic friends that trapped him into lessons with the girl he fancied, also negated them the possibility to take a potion to lessen the hangover and sharpened his wits. 

No, they decided that if he was offered the option to be himself in this scenario he would dance wonderfully, negating their fun and distraction on this particular act and now he was slow as a snail as Lily expected him to move to the music.

“I’ll make Sirius bring the chocolate all the same, he’s a pain, he deserves to pay.” he mumbled, teasing a bit with her, liking that they weren’t bickering.

“Come on, Potter, we can do this. Besides I wouldn’t feel good taking chocolate that I haven’t earned.” she replied with a smile, taking his other hand in hers.

This had to be the biggest joke around, he was sure that there would be some curtain or a camera to commemorate how much of an idiot he was being while Lily Evans, _the_ Lily Evans, held his hand. It was the first time she did that, and his sluggish brain thought it fit perfectly in his hand but,instead of properly appreciating the action, the menacing headache, and the need to kill his friends, was the thing that occupied his mind at the moment.

“How about it? Shall we try moving?” Lily asked. Of course she had noticed that James was a bit quieter than usual, but she didn’t mind it. It was better than dangling from the roof trying to start another contest with his friends.

“Uhm, yeah, yeah we shall.” he nodded, moving as she did. She wasn’t exactly teaching him advance movements. He had been dancing since he could remember, his mother put him in every class where his energetic ass could move, but it seemed that he forgot all that when he was in Lily’s presence. He looked at their feet and then suddenly he looked up and found Lily’s bright eyes. They were incredibly mesmerizing.

He stepped on his foot accidentally, not too hard, but not gracious at all either. “M’sorry.” he mumble, feeling like the biggest arse around.

“It’s ok, we are here for this not to happen, yeah?” she smiled at him, and it was a beautiful smile. It was sincere, he knew because you could see the little dimple in her left cheek, which only occurred when she was sincere. “Still nursing a hangover?” she asked after a bit of silence between them.

“Yeah, gits only gave me some water before tossing me out of the door.” he replied, allowing himself to relax a bit as they continue to sway from left to right.

“That’s really terrible, are you sure they are your friends?” Lily teased, peeking from his arm to look at Peter gracefully twirling Mary at the other end of the improvised dance floor.

“No, they are just strays that follow me around.” he chuckled, turning with her to see what she was looking at. 

“Peter is really good.” Lily declared, impressed. 

“He is the best dancer of the group. Don’t let Sirius hear that. He’s ego wouldn’t take it.” James joked looking at Lily, who was still looking at her friend being dipped by quiet, friendly Peter.

“Noted, but I’m sure Sirius would know by now.” she pointed at the couple as she spoke. Sirius looking at the four of them with an interest, a smirk still playing on his lips. 

“He knows, he is just in denial.” he shrugged. Peter was doing a great job at dancing with Mary, she was a great partner, and James knew he could do it too. He could dance as good as Peter, even if his form wasn’t perfect, no one without proper training would notice, but that would mean revealing to Lily that he didn’t need the dance lessons, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to give on that one up just yet. 

However, Lily deserved the truth.

He was about to speak, let it all out in the open, but he was cut by a short question “Why didn’t he teach you?” she asked curious, swaying once more.

“Jealousy, Sirius wouldn’t take it well. The group would break apart.” he was a tad dramatic in his comment, it was all pretend, of course, and Lily took it as it because she started laughing.

It was the most wonderful laugh James had heard, it wasn’t forced or too over the top, just perfect, even when his head was complaining with a mild headache and his body asked him for rest and water, there was nothing wrong with that laugh.

That was until the worse sound came out of the record player. A high pitched screech that had James’ head feeling like it was splitting into two came from the looping record. It sounded like nails scratching on a chalkboard. The record was probably ruined but James just wanted the sound to stop.

“Please, make that stop.” he groaned, taking his hands from Lily and pinching the bridge of his nose. Evil things were sound and light, and now it was turning on his lying ass.


	3. The Apology

“It’s ruined.” Mary said taking the record out of the player, a big scratch was digging through the acetate. 

James felt his head was going to explode. He didn’t have enough painkillers for the sound sensitivity and his friends weren’t exactly helping quiet things don’t.

“Have you tried using _Reparus_?” Sirius offered, moving towards the record, examining it. 

“I don’t think a reparo could work with that, it’s not exactly broken, just scratched.” Peter said as he looked at the record as well, “A version of _Glisseus_ , maybe?”

“That might smooth it completely, rendering useless.” Remus interceded, making the group try to come up with a solution. 

However, it only made things louder for James, who still was pretty much hungover. His headache; that was manageable to that point; was growing in intensity and his patience was diminishing exponentially, a combination that wasn’t exactly safe for anyone.

Lily approached James with a worried face, it seemed that things were not getting any better on his end, and even if she wanted the excuse to spend some time with him out of class, this wasn’t exactly what she had in mind.

“James, are yo—”

“Could everyone please _shut the fuck up?!”_ his voice wasn’t particularly loud, but it certainly indicated the level of annoyance he was not going to keep tolerating. He still had his eyes closed and was pinching the bridge of his nose, so he hadn’t noticed that the only worried voice in the room belonged to no other than Lily.

When he opened his eyes he wanted one of the rocks from the ceiling to fall over his head. Lily was a bit red on her cheeks, clearly uncomfortable after James’ outburst. She was trying to help and only managed to make things worse; at least in her head; and James just wanted his friends to stop being idiots. However the miscommunication was something that always seemed to happen between them.

He offered an apologetic look and then turned to his friends. “Sirius, grab the record and take it to the dorm. We’ll figure something out there.” He instructed his best mate.

“What am I, your dog? Come fetch it yourself.” Sirius complained and James gave him a look that did not appreciate the reply.

“No, you lot are the ones that got me a massive hangover, then barely gave me the proper potions and food, and now are making my headache grow bigger. So you’ll get the record, Remus would get the potions and Peter would get some food. We’ll meet at the dorm and figure how to fix the record so Lily can have it back. And we can reconsider this whole thing for a better time.” he explained looking at his friends who nodded and left the classroom.

Mary stood there a bit awkward, not sure why, it wasn’t like she concocted this whole thing with the boys, but she still felt inadequate about the whole situation.

“I’m sorry, they are idiots.” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose and then fixing his glasses before looking at Lily. “I didn’t mean to yell at you two, they are getting on my nerves today.” he tried lightening the mood with a chuckle.

Lily chuckled as well, “They are children, you seemed like a very good mom.” she teased and it was Mary’s cue to start gathering their things up and pretend she wasn’t there for that portion of the conversation.

“I do my best, but a mother’s work never ends.” He joked as well and then looked at Mary, who was clearly uncomfortable with the whole thing, before looking back at Lily. “Today is not the best day for lessons. I think I need food and proper sleep to be able to function.”

Lily nodded understandingly but a bit disappointed that it ended so shortly after it started. She wanted to try and be in a setting where they would just talk and not be bothered by everyone looking at them, judging their every move. She knew that the boys weren’t doing that, Mary certainly wasn’t doing that, but it all went to hell anyways.

“Maybe we can have a cuppa later? Discuss the whole dancing thing?” He offered like an olive branch, it wasn’t a date, it was just to explain things when his head could think properly and not get annoyed at light and sounds as he did at the moment.

“That sounds good, we can schedule for the lessons.” he agreed before he nodded and bid his goodbyes.

**✮**

James arrived at the dorm and sighed at the sight of his bed. Today didn’t started like a great day, today was a disaster and he just wanted to have a long nap before he had to deal with the real world again. 

However, sleepy would have to wait.

Sirius was sitting on his bed with the record on his hands, he looked briefly at James and then back at the record, like he could fix it without a wand, or a proper spell. He really looked like a grounded puppy in times like that, and James didn’t have the heart to stay mad at his brother when he knew Sirius was just doing what he thought was best.

“Did Red get upset because of the whole thing?” Sirius asked when James sat next to him.

“No, she was just weirded out. You keep forgetting we are too much to handle.” he joked, fixing his glasses.

Sirius nodded, a brief moment of silence passed between them. “Are you?”

James shook his head, “Just have a migraine, I don’t do well with hangovers.” he admitted, taking the record from Sirius’ hands. “It’s really ruined, huh?”

“Yeah, plastic and magic don’t mix well, and I couldn’t mend it.” Sirius admitted looking at his best mate. Remus and Peter arrived shortly after the statement.

James could smell the eggs and bacon from Peter’s basket and he was so grateful when Remus not only brought the prescribed potion, but managed to nicked a few more when Poppy wasn’t looking. “See? If you woke me up like this it wouldn’t come to me yelling.” James assured them as he proceeded to eat.

“So, what now? Does Lily hate us as well as you?” Peter asked sitting on his bed, next to Remus. All of them pecking something.

“I don’t think so, we are talking later, when I don’t want to murder the sun.” James explained checking on a piece of bacon. “None of you get to come.” he added, not wanting to repeat the horrendous situation.

“Who is going to make sure she doesn’t bite your head off?” Remus offered with a teasing smirk.

“I’ll manage.” He added taking a potion for the headache and looking at his friends. “But I’ll need a favour.”

**✮**

Lily was a little nervous about the whole thing, she knew James was being friendly, that this was more to apologize than anything, but she still was wondering if it was a good idea to go, and worrying on what to wear. Why did she have to change? Why couldn’t she just pretend she hadn’t spent most of her day not worrying about that particular situation? 

Because she was a git, an over excited girl like the ones she usually got annoyed by.

Tea wasn’t a big deal, was it? It was just tea, biscuits, the house elves that would be cooking. Just spending time with a friend, that was all. If James even woke before the end of the day, because she had a feeling he would sleep until next morning.

She was becoming anxious by the wait, when a knock brought her up from her thoughts.

There was a little first year, with a wide grin on her lips and a sugar quill on her hand delivering a message from the Quidditch Captain himself. Lily was certain that the little girl appreciated the sweet reward for her help, and had a little crush on James, but she still managed to get across that James was waiting for Lily at the Common Room, as promised, to come down whenever she was ready.

Lily’s heart skipped a bit, her palms sweating a bit from the nerves, as she thanked the girl and moved down to the Common Room, looking at James sitting on the big sofa by the fire.

“Did I make you wait too long?” she asked with a smirk on her face as she leaned on the back of the sofa, next to James’ head.

James jumped a little, surprised by Lily’s presence, “I thought you would take longer, to be honest.” he smiled fixing his glasses and gripping a square parcel in his hands before standing up to meet her. 

Lily’s eyes followed him as he stood up and then landed on the parcel with a confused look.

James ran a hand to the back of his head, messing the hair on its nape a little nervous. “We couldn’t fix your record. I’m sorry. But we got you a new one.” he added, handing her the parcel. “Sirius thought your collection was missing a few so he got you some of his favorites.” he explained why it was heavier than just one record.

Lily smiled at the records, “You shouldn’t have, records get ruined all the time.” her hand ran through the brown wrapping before frowning, “How did you get them in so short notice.” she asked knowing that it would be hard to get them in the castle.

“If I tell you, I’d have to kill you.” he joked. He couldn’t tell her that Sirius had borrowed his dad’s cloak and the Marauder’s Map to go to Hogsmeade to get them. Maybe someday, but he wasn’t sure those were the kind of details they should share.

“Are you giving me Sirius’ records to punish him for waking you up today?” Lily asked, amused as they started to walk out of the Common Room.

 _That would have been easier_. He thought, but chuckled, shaking his head. “Maybe, but you’ll find out at the next party, if that’s the case.”

The conversation was light as they moved downwards, to the kitchens. They didn’t bicker that much, and they talked about their friends and classes, which seemed to be a safe enough topic. He asked about her plans for the summer, she asked about the Quidditch Team, and suddenly they were sitting at a table in the kitchens just debating about biscuits.

“How’s that head of yours? Are biscuits helping or shall we ask for scones?” Lily joked, taking a bite from the one she had in hand.

“Definitely ask for scones, _always_ ask for scones, what are we? Barbaric?” He laughed, sipping his cup and looking at her. “Headache is better, I drank some potions, had a good lunch and the longest nap in history. Then pretended to be mad at the lads before I left to meet you.”

“Just pretending? You were really crossed when you left earlier.” It felt a little uncomfortable to talk about it, Lily thought he was crossed with her as well.

James sighed and ruffled his hair. He had to explain and come clean, aside from making Lily feel better, that wasn’t going to be an easy task.

“Well, I was really angry at them. They purposely made me get obliterated, then didn’t let me get any proper potions to be a decent person, and finally they kept making more noise that hungover me could take. But was a friendship without bickering?” he chuckled quietly.

James thumbs ran over the rim of his mug, trying to figure out how to say the next part best. But Lily interrupted him.

“Great mates you have. Are you sure they are your mates?” she teased taking another biscuit of the plate.

“They had a rational train of thought behind it.” He smiled at the idiocy of his friends before continuing. “They wanted me to be clumsy for lessons.” James blurted before he could second guess himself.

“Why would they want that?”

That was the real question, and it was time to tell her the truth, which James couldn’t see as a good thing, because they had been talking, they had been having little conversations that didn’t end in yelling, and he liked that, but answering that question would lead to Lily getting angry. However, she deserved the truth.

“Because, otherwise, you would know I really don’t need the dance lessons.” he admitted with a sigh. “I was going to tell you when I arrived at the classroom, but then my brain was too slow; which I know it’s not a proper excuse; and they were too annoying, pushing for it to happen. So I figured I would tell you when things calmed a little but… well you know what happened.” he confessed, hoping she wouldn’t be angry at him.

“I saw you dance yesterday, I don’t think you know how to dance.” she added, chuckling at the idea of him thinking that disastrous dance was okay. Yet he did feel guilty about the whole thing.

James laughed, “Oh Salazar, that was terrible.” it had been, he had been trying to mimic Sirius, which he could do, but he wasn’t as grateful as his mate, “We were goofing around, really.” he stopped to get a drink from his cup before continuing, “Mum made me take ballroom dance lessons when I was a kid. She’s really old, and we used to go to these fancy parties, so she wanted me to be a proper gentleman. Sirius has too. But he seems to always do things gracefully, no matter how utterly ridiculous he is.”

There was a moment of silence when James thought Lily would start screaming or storming out, he would have, if someone had lied to him like that. He didn’t want her to think they were trying to harm her or make fun of her, because no one wanted that.

And it was true, Lily thought that they were trying to play some sort of prank on her, was that the truth? Were they just mocking her? She didn’t want to be there if this was one big joke. It was true that James and her were alone, and her mind told her that if they were going to mock her James wouldn’t be there with her, just the two of them.

“Why did you do it?” She asked quietly, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer, but her sanity needed to know why they would make fun of her.

“They wanted to help.” James responded quickly, feeling the change in Lily’s demeanour. “We’ve known each other since we’ve been eleven. And you’d hated me for the best part of these 6 years. I just wanted a chance to talk to you, like this.” He motioned to the tea and kitchens, “But we always end up arguing.”

“No, we don’t,“ she quipped, blushing a little at the irony of that reply.

James chuckled with a shrug of one shoulder. “I think we do. I don’t mind a little bickering, but I don’t like the idea of you hating me.” he admitted looking at her, hoping she would understand that their actions weren’t meant to hurt her.

“I don’t hate you.” she mumbled, looking at her hands, “But I don’t have to agree with everything you say or do. I would say something when I don’t.”

“I wouldn’t want you to change that, but we have friends in common, I don’t want us to always be at each other’s throats.” 

Lily nodded. She could see that, she wanted the same James wanted, well maybe a little different, but she wanted to be near him and not yell at everything the other said. Or even storm out because the conversation was too unbearable to keep talking. She still wasn’t sure about her crush, she still didn’t know about the future of them, but she could see why his friends put him in that position.

“Do you think you can forgive us for lying?” James asked tentatively, he didn’t want to push, if she was hurt he would throw his friends of the Astronomy Tower and then himself, but he wanted to make things right,

“I can, now, for being idiots… that’s another story.” she teased a little, a small smile on her lips.

“I wouldn’t expect you to, not even McGonagall has forgiven us for that.” He laughed.

“Maybe we can do this more often?” she ventured, “You know, talking without the drama?”

James looked at her for a brief second, a wide smile spreading on his face. “Yeah, I’d like that.”


End file.
